Integrated phone-based home gateway system with a broadband communication device

ABSTRACT

A integrated phone-based home gateway system is disclosed. The integrated phone-based home gateway system includes a broadband communication device, such as digital subscriber line (“DSL”) device, an analog modem, a wireless interface, integrated into a screen-phone for providing broadband communication service to home users. Multiple home users are able to access the Internet and the content services for conducting e-commerce, receiving content news, entertaining on-demand, making audio or video communications, and telecommuting or working at home. This screen-phone based, modular, plug-n-play home gateway interface allows in-home as well as to-home networking, provides automatic data and broadband initialization, configuration and service provisioning, routing and bridging functionality and allows resource sharing among home devices via the existing phone wire, wireless, coaxial or optical cable connections.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Nos. 60/179,042, filed on Jan. 31, 2000, and 60/189,870,filed on Mar. 16, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference. The application also claims priority from Taiwan PatentApplication No. 89109172, filed on Oct. 12, 2000, which claims priorityfrom U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/189,870, filed on Mar.16, 2000.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to communications devices. More specifically itrelates to a broadband communications devices including phone-based homegateway interfaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the advent of the communication technologies and breakthroughs inDigital Signal Processing (“DSP”), Digital Subscriber Lines (“DSL”),fiber optic and coaxial cable and wireless connections, more bandwidthis now available for home communications than was once provided bytraditional voice-grade analog modems. There is widespread interestamong home users in faster access to content provided by serviceproviders via high-speed facilities such as DSL, cable, or wirelessconnections.

This interest appears to be driving the evolution of the homecommunications from narrow-band communications to broadbandcommunications. As is known in the art, broadband communications includecommunications signals that are typically transmitted over separateinbound and outbound channels. Network devices on a broadband networkare connected by copper, coaxial or fiber-optic cable or wirelessconnections that can carry data, voice, and video simultaneously.Broadband communications are capable of high-speed operation (e.g.,megabits-per-second, (“Mbps”)).

There are a number of problems associated with providing broadbandcommunications to the home environment. One problem is that before DSL,broadband access via shared Local Area Network (“LAN”), Frame Relay,Asynchronous Transmission Mode (“ATM”) or other broadband communicationsservices had only been used in commercial or business environment. Mostto-home communications are narrow-band and use either Integrated ServiceDigital Network (“ISDN”) line or analog modems.

Another problem is that broadband communications are operationallycomplex. Broadband communications typically include a large number ofbroadband communications parameters that must be configured before abroadband communications application can be used. Service provisioningis also required to use broadband communications. As is known in theart, service provisioning includes allocating, configuring andmaintaining multiple transmission channels and virtual communicationspaths used for broadband communications.

Normally, in the commercial or business environment, trainedprofessionals are required to manage such complexity. It is undesirablehowever, to have trained networking personnel managing a home network.It may also be unreasonable to expect any home user to have enoughnetworking experience to configure and provision broadbandcommunications in the home environment.

Another problem is that it is becoming common for home users to havesmall office or home office (“SOHO”) home networks. Such home networkstypically include one or more personal computers, printers, facsimilemachines, mobile phones, personal data assistants (“PDA”) that are allconnected in the home and to another networks such as the Internet. Thehome networks typically require gateway, router or bridge functionalityto allow devices connected to the home network to communicate over dataconnections (e.g., Internet Protocol (“IP”)) with other devicesconnected to the Internet.

As is known in the art, a gateway connects computer networks usingdifferent network protocols and/or operating at different transmissioncapacities. A router receives transmitted messages and forwards them totheir correct destinations over the most efficient available route. Abridge is a device that connects networks using the same communicationsprotocols so that information can be passed from one network device toanother.

Such gateway, router or bridge functionality typically requiresconfiguration, initialization and management of various gateway, routingor bridging tables. It may also be unreasonable to expect any home userto have enough networking experience to configure, initialize or managesuch tables in the home environment.

Another problem is that for many home users do not have the physicalspace to include additional modules or equipment that is used as a homegateway. The home users also may not have the additional wired orwireless connections available to connect a home gateway (e.g., anadditional telephone line).

Another problem is that many home users desire to use home gatewayfunctionality, but already have existing phone systems. Many existingphone systems are incompatible with, and cannot be used with productsthat may offer any type of home gateway functionality.

Another problem is that many devices used on a home network arewireless. It is often necessary to connect such wireless devices to abroadband communications path.

Another problem is that most broadband communication devices allowto-home networking, but do not allow in-home networking with otherdevices connected to a home network. It is often necessary to providebroadband communications for to-home and in-home networking.

Thus, it is desirable to provide broadband communications to the homeenvironment in a device that overcomes the problems described herein andother problems associated with providing broadband communications to thehome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, someof the problems associated with providing broadband communications tothe home environment are overcome. An integrated phone-based homegateway system is disclosed.

The integrated phone-based home gateway system includes, but is notlimited to a home gateway interface for initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions and for providingrouting or bridging for networking communications, a communicationsinterface for connecting to one or more networks, for providing datacommunications, for providing broadband communications and for providingnarrow band communications including voice communications, a processorfor processing information from the one or more networks, a displayinterface for displaying the information from the one or more networks;and a wireless communications interface for connecting to externalwireless devices. The integrated phone-based home gateway system mayfurther include a portable multi-function handset.

However, more fewer or equivalent components can also be used in thephone-based home gateway interface and the present invention is notlimited to these components.

The integrated phone-based home gateway system described herein may beused as conventional telephony device, a broadband home gateway, awireless local loop home gateway, a set-top box for a cable televisionaccess as well as for other communications functionality in oneintegrated device. The integrated phone-based home gateway system mayhelp hide both data (e.g., Internet Protocol) and broadband (e.g., DSL,cable, wireless, etc.) service configuration and provisioning complexityfrom home users by providing automatic establishment of communicationschannels and automatic provisioning and initialization of broadband,data, routing, bridging and other communication parameters.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of preferred embodimentsof the present invention will be more readily apparent from thefollowing detailed description. The detailed description proceeds withreferences to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described withreference to the following drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary phone-based homegateway system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an ADSL component of aphone-based home gateway system;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an integrated phone-based homegateway system;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless, integratedphone-based home gateway system;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating to-home wireless networking withthe wireless, integrated phone-based home gateway system of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary integratedphone-based home gateway interface architecture;

FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless,integrated phone-based home gateway interface architecture;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary phone-based homegateway interface software architecture;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary session managersoftware architecture;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary service managersoftware architecture;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary interface mangersoftware architecture;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary display managersoftware architecture;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an integrated phone-based homegateway conversion system for an existing phone system;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for initializingcommunications from a home gateway interface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Exemplary Phone-based HomeGateway Systems

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary phone-based home gateway system 10 forone exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As is known in theart, a gateway connects computer networks using different networkprotocols and/or operating at different transmission capacities. Theexemplary phone-based home gateway system 10 includes a local areanetwork (“LAN”) 12 with one or more network devices 14, 16, two of whichare illustrated, and a phone-based home gateway interface 18 with anoptional portable telephony handset 20. If the optional portabletelephony 20 handset is not used, the phone-based home gateway interface18 includes a speaker-phone with a built in microphone and speaker forsending and receiving voice information. The network devices 14, 16include, but are not limited to, personal computers, printers, personaldata assistants (“PDAs”), network appliances and other electronicdevices.

The phone-based home gateway interface 18 is connected to a publicswitched telephone network (“PSTN”) 22 via one or more twisted pairs ofcopper wires, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, other connection mediaor other connection interfaces such as wireless interfaces. The PSTN 22is any public switched telephone network provided by AT&T, GTE, Sprint,MCI and others. The phone-based home gateway interface 18 may also beconnected to other computer networks 24 such as the Internet, anintranet, etc. via coaxial cable, fiber optic cable other connectionmedia or other connection interfaces such as wireless interfaces.

The phone-based home gateway interface 18 may also be connected to othertelephony networks via a wireless local loop. The network devices 14, 16are connected to LAN 12 with RJ-11 interfaces 24. As is known in theart, a Registered Jack-11 (“RJ-11”) interface is a four or six-wireconnector used primarily to connect network devices to telephonyequipment and to local area networks.

However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment andmore, fewer or equivalent components can also be used in the phone-basedhome gateway system 10. In addition, the phone-based home gatewayinterface 18 is illustrated as separate device from the network devices14, 16. However, the phone-based home gateway interface 18 may also bean internal component in a network device 14, 16.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention include network devicesand home gateway interfaces that are compliant with all or part ofstandards proposed by the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicEngineers (“IEEE”), International TelecommunicationsUnion-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (“ITU”), InternetEngineering Task Force (“IETF”), American National Standard Institute(“ANSI”), Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”) Forum, Bluetooth Forum,or the ADSL Forum. However, network devices based on other standardscould also be used. IEEE standards can be found on the World Wide Web atthe Universal Resource Locator (“URL”) “www.ieee.org.” The ITU,(formerly known as the CCITT) standards can be found at the URL“www.itu.ch.” IETF standards can be found at the URL “www.ietf.org.” TheANSI standards can be found at the URL “www.ansi.org.” Bluetooth Forumdocuments can be found at the URL “www.bluetooth.com.” WAP Forumdocuments can be found at the URL “www.wapforum.org.” ADSL Forumdocuments can be found at the URL “www.adsl.com.”

An operating environment for network devices and home gateway interfacesof the present invention include a processing system with one or morehigh speed Central Processing Unit(s) (“CPU”) and a memory. Inaccordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computerprogramming, the present invention is described below with reference toacts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions that areperformed by the processing system, unless indicated otherwise. Suchacts and operations or instructions are referred to as being“computer-executed,” “CPU executed” or “processor executed.”

It will be appreciated that acts and symbolically represented operationsor instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by theCPU. An electrical system represents data bits which cause a resultingtransformation or reduction of the electrical signals, and themaintenance of data bits at memory locations in a memory system tothereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the CPU's operation, as well asother processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits aremaintained are physical locations that have particular electrical,magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to the data bits.

The data bits may also be maintained on a computer readable mediumincluding magnetic disks, optical disks, organic memory, and any othervolatile (e.g., Random Access Memory (“RAM”)) or non-volatile (e.g.,Read-Only Memory (“ROM”)) mass storage system readable by the CPU. Thecomputer readable medium includes cooperating or interconnected computerreadable medium, which exist exclusively on the processing system or bedistributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may belocal or remote to the processing system.

The phone-based home gateway interface 18 provides broadbandcommunications in the megabits-per-second or higher range. Thephone-based home gateway interface 18 also provides routing or bridgingfor networking communications and automatically initializescommunications service configurations and provisions communicationsservices. As is know in the art, a router is an intermediary device on acommunications network that expedites message delivery. A routerreceives transmitted messages and forwards them to their correctdestinations over the most efficient available route. A bridge is adevice that connects networks using the same communications protocols sothat information can be passed from one network device to another.

The phone-based home gateway interface 18 is connected to the PSTN 22via one or more high-speed telephony interfaces to provide broadbandcommunications, and/or one or more low-speed telephony interfaces toprovide other telephony communications. The phone-based home gatewayinterface 18 is also connected to the Internet 24, or other computernetwork via one or more data interfaces, such as Internet Protocol(“IP”) interfaces to provide data communications.

As is known in the art, IP is a routing protocol designed to routetraffic within a network or between networks. IP is described in IETFRFC-791, incorporated herein by reference. However, the presentinvention is not limited to IP data interfaces and other data interfacescan also be used.

The phone-based home gateway interface 18 allows multiple home users toaccess the Internet, other computer networks and content services forconducting e-commerce, receiving content news, entertaining on-demand,making audio or video communications, and telecommuting or working athome. This phone-based home gateway interface 18 allows in-home as wellas to-home networking and allows resource sharing among home devices viathe existing phone wire, wireless, coaxial or optical cable connections.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram 26 illustrating an Asymmetric DigitalSubscriber Line (“ADSL”) component 28 of the phone-based home gatewayinterface 18. The ADSL component 28 is illustrated as integral to thephone-based home gateway interface 18. However, the ADSL component 28can also be an external or separate component of the phone-based homegateway interface 18.

As is known in the art, ADSL is a communications technology thattransmits an asymmetric data stream over a conventional twisted pair ofcopper telephone wires. An ADSL typically transmits a larger data ratedownstream to a subscriber from a telephony switching office than from asubscriber back to the telephony switching office. ADSLs typicallytransmit about 1.5 Mega bits-per-second (“Mbps”) to about 9 Mbpsdownstream to a subscriber, and about 16 kilo-bps (“kbps”) to 640 kbpsupstream back to a telephony switching office.

However, the phone-based home gateway interface 18 may also include asymmetric, other or equivalent communications component and the presentinvention is not limited to the ADSL component 28. The ADSL component 28allows the phone-based home gateway interface 18 to be used to providebroadband, or other faster transmission rates than can be obtained withanalog modems over a conventional telephone wire.

An ADSL system typically comprises two asymmetric devices connected by aconventional twisted pair of copper wires. An ADSL TransmissionUnit-Central (“ATU-C”) is a device at one end of an ADSL connection at atelephony or other switching office on the PSTN 22 or other network. AnADSL Transmission Unit-Remote (“ATU-R”) is a device at another end of anADSL connection at a subscriber or customer site. The ADSL connectioncan be used either with or without a splitter.

Returning to FIG. 2, the phone-based home gateway interface 18 includesan ADSL terminating unit (ATU-R) 28 that is used to connect thephone-based home gateway interface 18 to the LAN 12. In anotherembodiment of the present invention, the LAN 12 can also include a10/100 Base-T Ethernet LAN as is illustrated in FIG. 2. As is known inthe art, 10/100 Base-T is an Ethernet standard for LANs usingtwisted-pair cable transmitting at 10 to 100 Mbps. However, the presentinvention is not limited to such an embodiment, and other or equivalentLANs can also be used. The ATU-R 28 is also used to connect to networkdevices 14, 16 to the PSTN 22 via a peripheral component interconnect(“PCI”) 30 bus or a Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) 32 connection.

As is know in the art, a PCI is a local bus standard. Most moderncomputers include a PCI bus 30. PCI is a 64-bit bus, though it isusually implemented as a 32-bit bus. As is known in the art, a USB 32 isan external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 12Mbps or higher. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127peripheral devices such as mice, modems, and keyboards. USB alsosupports plug-and-play installation and hot plugging. Plug-and-playrefers to the ability of a computer system to automatically configureexpansion boards and other devices without worrying about setting DIPswitches, jumpers and other hardware and software configurationelements.

Exemplary Integrated Phone-based Home Gateway System

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an integrated phone-based homegateway system 34. The integrated phone-based home gateway system 34includes an integrated, phone-based home gateway interface 36 with anoptional portable wireless handset 38, a display screen 40, a key pad42, a communications interface 44 including a DSL component 46 and ananalog component 48, a home phoneline network adapter (“HPNA”) component50, a Bluetooth component 52, and an optional video camera component 54.The integrated phone-based home gateway system 34 also includes one ormore processors, one more banks of memory and one or more softwaremodules (not illustrated in FIG. 3). However, the present invention isnot limited to such an embodiment and more, fewer or equivalentcomponents can also be used in the integrated phone-based home gatewaysystem 34. The integrated phone-based home gateway system 34 provides“in-home” as well as “to-home” networking for voice, video and data.

The integrated, phone-based home gateway interface 36 may include one ormore physical buttons or controls for selecting features of a basestation. One or more graphical buttons or controls may also be includedon the display screen 40. The integrated, phone-based home gatewayinterface 36 is modular and allows the components described above andother or equivalent types of components to be easily interchanged.

The integrated, phone-based home gateway interface 36 may include anoptional portable wireless telephone handset 38 that allows a user touse the handset 38 in the vicinity of the integrated, phone-based homegateway interface 36. In one embodiment of the present invention, thehandset 38 is a 4-in-1 phone set including a cordless phone, mobilephone, web-phone (e.g., for Voice over IP (“VoIP”)) and walkie-takieradio capabilities. However, the present invention is not limited tosuch an embodiment and other or equivalent handsets can also be used. Inaddition, the handset 38 can also provide only one, two or three of the4-in-1 phone set capabilities.

If the optional portable wireless handset 38 is not used, thecommunications interface 44 may include a speaker-phone with a built inmicrophone and speaker for sending and receiving voice information. Thecommunications interface 44 may include a speaker-phone whether or notthe portable wireless handset 38 is used.

The integrated, phone-based home gateway interface 36 also providesrouting or bridging for networking communications, including voice,video and data communications and coordinates establishing, initializingand provisioning broadband, narrow-band and data communicationsparameters and channels. In one embodiment of the present invention,this functionality is provided in integrated, phone-based home gatewayinterface 36 with software modules illustrated in FIGS. 7-11. However,the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and thisfunctionality can also be provided in firmware, hardware, or software,or any combination thereof.

The display screen 40 includes a conventional computer display screen, aliquid crystal display screen with color, black and white or grey scalecapabilities, or other types of display screens, including touchscreens. The display screen 40 is used to display and access voice,video, data and other Internet messages (e.g., e-mail). In oneembodiment of the present invention, the display screen 40 is aremovable module that can be used as portable wireless hand-held device(e.g., infra-red, Bluetooth, other wireless, etc.) in the vicinity ofthe integrated, phone-based, home gateway interface 36. In oneembodiment of the present invention, the display screen 40 is used todisplay at least one line of real-time stock quote, weather, headlinenews, community news, electronic address, or other information from theInternet 24. The optional video camera component 54 is used to collectand send data for video conference calls, video e-mail, etc.

The keypad 42 includes a telephone key pad, other numeric keypad, analphanumeric keypad, other specialized key pad, a keyboard, or otheralpha-numeric data entry device. The keypad 42 can include physicaldevices as well as graphical representations of key pads that are madeavailable on the display screen 40.

The communications interface 44 includes a DSL component 46 and ananalog component 48. The DSL component 46 provides broadbandcommunications. The DSL component 46 may include a DSL device with oneof the following interfaces: ADSL, symmetric DSL (“SDSL”), high-bit-rateDSL (“HDSL”) or very-high-bit-rate (“VDSL”). The DSL component 46 isintegrated inside a phone set, which provides conventional telephony aswell as an always-on connectivity to broadband networks, the Internet orother computer networks. The analog component 48 may include analogmodems, such as a V.90 56 kbps or other analog modems operating at adifferent speed or using a different communication protocol than the DSLcomponent 46. In one embodiment of the present invention, the analogcomponent 48 includes using plain old telephone service (“POTS”), and isalso integrated inside a phone set for the purpose of providing channelredundancy, broadband service provisioning and configuration.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the communications interface44 is connected to a POTS splitter that allows the DSL component 46 andthe analog component 48 to use the same twisted pairs of telephone lines(See FIG. 6). The POTS splitter may also be used to provide broadband aswell as other higher-bandwidth services (e.g., Asynchronous TransportMode (“ATM”), Optical transmission, Integrated Services Digital Network,(“ISDN”), Frame Relay, etc.) and lower-bandwidth services (e.g., POTS).

The HPNA component 50 provides a convenient and flexible way tointerconnect computers and peripherals to a network, includingplug-and-play. The HPNA component 50 also enables existing telephonewiring to be used for broadband network access. In addition, HPNAsenable VoIP phones that have Ethernet connectors to interface withnon-Ethernet broadband connections. FIG. 3 illustrates network devices14, 16, comprising a small home network connected to the HPNA 50 viaRJ-11 interfaces 24. However, the present invention is not limited tosuch an embodiment. In addition, the network devices 14, 16 can also beconnected using PCI 30 or USB 32 connections (FIG. 2) as was describedabove.

The Bluetooth component 52 simplifies data synchronization andtransmission between network devices and the LAN 12 with a commonshort-range wireless protocol. As is known in the art, Bluetooth is ashort-range radio frequency technology aimed at simplifyingcommunications among network devices and between network devices.Bluetooth wireless technology supports both short-range point-to-pointand point-to-multipoint connections. The Bluetooth specification,version 1.0, 1999, is incorporated by reference. In another embodimentof the present invention, the Bluetooth component can be replaced withvirtually any other short-range radio interface component.

In one embodiment of the present invention, wired and wireless homeelectronic or other electronic devices, such as a WEB pad 56, a mobilephone 58, a lap top or notebook computer, a desk top personal computer60, a PDA 62, smart appliances 64, alarm systems 66, home videomonitoring equipment 68, etc. may interface with the integratedphone-based home gateway interface 36 through modular interfaces (e.g.,RJ-11 or HPNA interfaces) or Bluetooth wireless interfaces. The wirelessdevices are connected to the integrated phone-based home gatewayinterface 36 over a Bluetooth piconet 70 or Bluetooth scatternet usingthe Bluetooth component 52.

As is known in the art, a “piconet” is a network in which “slave”devices can be set to communicate with a “master” radio controller inone device such as a gateway. Piconet are typically limited to a certainrange and vicinity in which wireless devices must be present to operate(e.g., a few feet up to few miles away from the master radiocontroller). Several “piconets” can be established and linked togetherin “scatternets” to allow communication among several networks providingcontinually flexible configurations.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the communications interface44 is connected to a local switching office 72 on the PSTN 22 via aRJ-11 jack 24. The RJ-11 jack 24 provides narrow band (e.g., voice) andbroadband communications and data communications via the PSTN 22 andInternet 24. The local switching office 72 is connected to a digitalsubscriber line access multiplexer (“DSLAM”) 74, which is in turn incommunications with other telephony equipment via the PSTN 22. As isknown in the art, a DSLAM concentrates individual voice lines to T1lines, wireless antenna sites, Private Branch Exchanges (“PBXs”),Optical Network Units (“ONUIs”) or other carrier systems. The DSLAM 74may also be connected to a regional broadband network (“RBN”) 76, orother broadband or narrow-band voice, video or data networks which inturn may be communications with other networking equipment on theInternet 24.

The integrated phone-based home gateway system 34 provides gatewayfunctionality, broadband communications as well as normal voicetelephony to the home environment. The integrated, phone-based homegateway interface 36 is a modular, flexible home network appliance, aswell as broadband or narrow-band telephony and data communicationsdevice that provides in-home as well as to-home networking.

Exemplary Wireless Integrated Phone-based Home Gateway System

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless, integratedphone-based home gateway system 78. In such an embodiment, the wireless,integrated phone-based home gateway system 78 is typically not connecteddirectly to any other network device with any wires. In one embodimentof the present invention, all connection are wireless, including thoseto the PSTN 22 and the Internet 24. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, all connections to network devices are wireless, however,connections to the PSTN 22 and/or the Internet 24 may be with wires asis illustrated in FIG. 4. However, the present invention is not limitedto such embodiments and the wireless, integrated, phone-based homegateway system 78 can also be used with a variety of other connectionoptions.

The wireless, integrated, phone-based home gateway system 78 includes awireless, integrated phone-based home gateway interface 80 and optionalportable wireless telephone handset 82. The wireless, integratedphone-based home gateway interface 80 includes the same components asthe integrated phone-based home gateway interface 36 described above forFIG. 3. In addition, the wireless phone-based home gateway interface 80includes an additional plug-in radio frequency (“RF”) interface 84.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the RF interface 84 is anIEEE standard 802.11b wireless interface. However, the present inventionis not limited to such an embodiment and other wireless interfaces canalso be used. For example, the RF interface can include RF Home andother wireless interfaces. As is known in the art, the IEEE 802.11bstandard defines wireless interfaces that provide up to 11 Mbps wirelessdata transmission to and from wireless devices over short ranges. TheIEEE 802.11b standard is incorporated herein by reference.

As is known in the art, RF Home is a standard for wireless networkingaccess devices to both local content and the Internet for voice, dataand streaming media in home environments. More information on RF Homecan be found at the URL “www.homerf.org.” RF Home includes the SharedWireless Access Protocol (“SWAP”). The SWAP specification defines a newcommon interface protocol that supports wireless voice and datanetworking in the home. The RF Home SWAP protocol specification, March1998, is incorporated herein, by reference.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the RF interface 84 is ashort-range RF interface that is capable of communicating with wirelessdevices over a wireless piconet 86 or wireless scatternet using wirelesscommunications protocols. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, the RF interface 78 is a long-range radio interface (e.g.,WAP interface) used for communicating with wireless devices on wirelessnetworks outside the range of a wireless piconet 80. In yet anotherembodiment of the present invention, the RF interface 78 includes bothshort-range and long-range RF interfaces. However, the RF interface 78can be virtually any other or equivalent short-range or long-range RFinterface and the present invention is not limited to the short-range orlong-range RF interfaces described.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating “to-home” wireless networking 88with the phone-based, integrated, wireless phone-based home gatewaysystem 78. The wireless, integrated, phone-based home gateway system 78can be used to provide long range to-home wireless networking as well aslong range in-home wireless networking with wireless protocols.

For example, the wireless, integrated, phone-based home gatewayinterface 80 can be in communications with a WAP gateway 90 to providelong-range to-home wireless networking at the wireless, integratedphone-based home gateway interface 80 from a WAP enabled devices 92 orother long-range wireless devices via a wireless wide-area network(“WAN”) 94. The “Wireless Application Protocol ArchitectureSpecification”, by the Wireless Application Protocol Forum,WAP-100-WAPArch-1998-0430-a, April 1998, is incorporated herein byreference. The wireless wide-area network 88 allows devices outside acertain range and vicinity (e.g., greater than a few miles and/oroutside the range of a piconet) to be in communications with thewireless, integrated phone-based home gateway interface 80.

The wireless, integrated phone-based home gateway system 78 providesgateway functionality, broadband communications, short-range and/orlong-range wireless communications, as well as normal voice telephony tothe home environment. The wireless, integrated, phone-based home gatewayinterface 80 is a modular, flexible home network appliance, as well asbroadband telephony and data communications device that providesshort-range and long-range wireless in-home as well as to-homenetworking.

Exemplary Integrated Phone-based Home Gateway System HardwareArchitecture

FIG. 6A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary integratedphone-based home gateway interface hardware architecture 100. FIG. 6B isa block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless, integratedphone-based home gateway interface hardware architecture 100′. Theexemplary phone-based home gateway interface architecture 100illustrated in FIG. 6A is used with the integrated phone-based homegateway interface 36 (FIG. 3). The exemplary wireless, integratedphone-based home gateway interface hardware architecture 100′ is usedwith the wireless, integrated phone-based home gateway interface 80(FIG. 4).

The exemplary integrated phone-based home gateway interface architecture100 includes a receive and transmit or transceiver (“XCIVER”) buffer102, an ADSL ATU-R 104, a splitter 106 including a high-pass filter anda low pass filter, a POTS telephone module 108 and a RJ-11 interface110. An expansion header (not illustrated) may also be used between theATU-R 104 and the XCIVER buffer 102.

The POTS telephone module 108 may include an analog V.90 59K modem,other analog or digital modem and/or a 900 MHz-2.4 GHz cordless phonemodule (Not illustrated in FIG. 6A). The POTS telephone module 108 isconnected to a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (“UART”) 112,which is turn connected to an integrated communications micro-controller114.

An ADSL system typically includes one or more splitters 106. Thesplitter 106 is a filter that separates high frequency and low frequencytelephony signals. A splitter may be integrated the ATU-R 104,physically separated from ATU-R 104, and may be divided between highpass and low pass functionality as is illustrated in FIG. 6A.

In one exemplary preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ADSLATU-R 104 is used with the splitter 106 and is compliant with the ANSIstandard “Network and Customer Installation Interfaces—AsymmetricDigital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Metallic interface,” ANSI-T1.413-1995,and the ITU standards “Asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL)transceiver,” ITU-G.992.1-1999, the contents of which are incorporatedby reference.

In another exemplary preferred embodiment of the present invention, theADSL ATU-R 104 is used without splitter 106. A splitterless ADSL systemtypically delivers a maximum downstream bandwidth of about 1.4 Mbps, butis less sensitive to noise and other transmission problems typicallyencountered by ADSL system that use splitters. The splitterless ADSLstandard is called “G.lite.” In such a splitterless embodiment, the ADSLATU-R 104 is compliant with the ANSI-T1.413-1995 standard and the ITU-T“Splitterless Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line Transceivers,”ITU-G.992.2-1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the ADSL ATU-R 104 isreplaced with a high-speed wireless interface 107 as is illustrated inFIG. 6B. This high-speed wireless interface 107 provides a “wirelesslocal loop” (“WLP”) for use in wireless, integrated, phone-based homegateway interface 84 (FIG. 4), to provide in-home and as well as to-homewireless networking. In one embodiment of the present invention, thehigh-speed wireless interface is an IEEE 802.11b wireless interface.However, the present invention is not limited to such a wirelessinterface, and the high-speed wireless interface 107 include other orequivalent short-range or long-range wireless interfaces.

In such an embodiment, the high-speed wireless interface 107 is usedwithout the ADSL ATU-R 104, but in combination with the RJ-11 interface110 and the POTS telephone module 108. In such an embodiment, the RJ-11interface 110 and the POTS telephone module 108 are used to provideservice provisioning and voice calls via the PSTN 22 that can beconnected to other wireless devices via the high-speed wirelessinterface 107. In such an embodiment, the high-speed wireless interface107 is also connected to the POTS telephone module 110.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention (not illustrated inFIG. 6), the high-speed wireless interface 107 is used in combinationwith the ADSL ATU-R 94, the RJ-11 interface 108 and the POTS telephonemodule 110 to provide both wireless and wired access to integrated,phone-based home gateway interface 36 (FIG. 3). For one skilled in theart, various other combinations of the wireless and wired componentsdescribed herein are also possible to provide both data and voicecommunications in a phone-based home gateway.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the integratedcommunications micro-controller 114 includes a StrongARM SA-110, fromthe Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. The StrongARM SA-110 is ahigh-performance, low-power processor for portable wireless multi-mediadevices. However, other or equivalent micro-controllers can also be usedand the present invention is not limited to this Intel micro-controller.

The integrated phone-based home gateway interface architecture 100 alsoincludes one or more banks of memory such as synchronous dynamic randomaccess memory (“SDRAM”) 116, synchronous mask read only memory (“SMROM”)118, flash memory 120, static RAM (“SRAM”) 122 and one or more RS-232interfaces 124 for connecting serial devices. Memory 116, 118, 120, 122and RS-232 interfaces 124 are connected to the integrated communicationsmicro-controller 114.

As is known in the art, SDRAM 116 is a form of dynamic random accessmemory (“DRAM”) that can run at higher clock speeds than conventionalDRAM. The SDRAM 116 is connected to receive and transmit buffer 102.SMROM 118 is a form of ROM that can be accessed using bit-masks that aretypically 32-bits in size. Flash memory 120 is special type of erasableprogrammable ROM that can be erased and reprogrammed in blocks insteadof one byte at a time. SRAM 122 is form of RAM that retains informationas long as there is enough power to run a device. The RS-232 interface124 standard defines specific lines and signal characteristics used byserial communications controllers to standardize the transmission ofserial data between devices.

In a typical configuration memory 116, 118, 120, 122 includes memoryblocks of 64 Mbytes to 512 Mbytes in size. The memory 116, 118, 120, 122can be configured using many different types of memory layouts andmemory sizes.

The integrated communications micro-controller 114 is connected with oneor more high-speed serial ports (“HSSP”) 126 or a high-speed serial bus(not illustrated) to a black and white, grey scale or color liquidcrystal display (“LCD”) component 128 used for the display screen 40, aBluetooth radio module 130 included in the Bluetooth component 52, aninfra data association (“IrDA”) module 132, an HPNA module 134 includedin the HPNA component 50, one more audio/video CODEC modules 136, andone or more Personal Computer Memory Card International Association(“PCMCIA”) interface modules 138.

As is known in the art, the IrDA module 132 is used for synchronizingand transmitting data via infrared light waves and is used to provideone type of short-range wireless connection. The audio/video CODECs 136are coders/decoders used to convert audio or video signals betweenanalog and digital forms and/or are compressors/decompressors forcompressing and decompressing audio and video data.

In one embodiment of the present invention, Motion Pictures Expert Group(“MPEG-2”) codecs are used. As is known in the art, MPEG is a set ofstandards for audio and video compression established by the JointISO/IEC Technical Committee on Information Technology. The original MPEGstandard for storing and retrieving video and audio information, wasdesigned for CD-ROM technology. MPEG-1 defines data cell encoding for amedium bandwidth of up to 1.5 Mbps, two audio channels, andnon-interlaced video. MPEG-2 is an extension of the MPEG-1 standarddesigned for broadcast television, including HDTV. MPEG-2 defines ahigher bandwidth of up to 40 Mbps, five audio channels, a wider range offrame sizes, and interlaced video.

MPEG-2 in general is defined in the ISO/IEC Standard JTC1/SC29/WG11,entitled “Coding of Moving Pictures and Audio,” incorporated herein byreference. MPEG-2 is also defined by the ITU-T H.222.0, standardentitled “Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audioinformation,” the contents of which is incorporated by reference.However, other audio/video data codecs could also be used and thepresent invention is not limited to the MPEG codecs described.

During an audio/video conferencing call, or a voice call, audioinformation is typically supplied by audio equipment (e.g., a handset,microphone/speaker, speakerphone, etc.) that uses an audio codec tocapture audio information. For example, such audio codecs are compliantITU-T G.711, G.722, G.723, G.728 and G.729 standards, the contents ofwhich are incorporated by reference. However, other audio codecs couldalso be used and the present invention is not limited to such audiocodecs.

The one or more PCMCIA interfaces 148 are standard interfaces for smallcredit-card size peripherals and slots designed to hold them, primarilyon laptop, palmtop, and other portable devices including intelligentelectronic devices. As is known in the art, PCMCIA interfaces 138comprises group of manufacturers and vendors who collaborated to promotea common standard for PC Card-based peripherals.

The integrated phone-based home gateway interface architecture 100system and wireless, integrated phone-based home gateway interfacearchitecture 100′ are described with a number of specific components.However, the present invention is not limited to these specificcomponents and more, fewer or equivalent components can also be used inthe integrated phone-based home gateway interface architecture 100 andwireless, integrated phone-based home gateway interface architecture100′.

Exemplary Home Gateway Interface Software Architecture

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary home gatewayinterface software architecture 140. The home gateway interface softwarearchitecture 140 includes a session manager 142, a service manager 144,an interface manager 146 and a display manger 148. However, more, feweror equivalent software components can be used and the present inventionis not limited to these software components. In FIGS. 7-11, externalcommunications paths, i.e., communications paths external to a componentin the software architecture 140 are illustrated with two-way arrows.Internal communications paths, i.e., communications paths internal to acomponent in the software architecture 140 are illustrated with lineswithout arrow heads. However, the internal communications path alsoprovide two-way communications.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary session manager 142software architecture 150. The session manager 142 includes a sessioncontroller module 152 that sends and receives status information to andfrom the service manager 144. The session controller module 152 alsosends and receives interface information to and from the interfacemanager 146 and sends and receives data messages to and from the displaymanager 148. The session controller module 152 also helps initializedata interfaces, such as IP interfaces with cooperation from theprovisioning manager module 164 (FIG. 9) in the service manager 144.

The session controller module 152 also sends and receives sessioncontrol and status information to and from a transport layer 154 that isin communications with a network layer 156.

As is known in the art, the Open Systems Interconnection (“OSI”)reference model is a layered architecture that standardizes levels ofservice and types of interaction for computers exchanging informationthrough a communications network. The OSI reference model separatesnetwork device-to-network device communications into seven protocollayers, or levels, each building-and relying—upon the standardscontained in the levels below it. The OSI reference model includes fromlowest-to-highest, a physical, data-link, network, transport, session,presentation and application layer. The lowest of the seven layers dealssolely with hardware links; the highest deals with software interactionsat the application-program level.

The transport layer 154 is the fourth of the seven layers in the OSIreference model. The transport layer 154 is typically responsible forboth quality of service and accurate delivery of information. Among thetasks performed on this layer are error detection and correction.

The transport layer 154 sends and receives transport layer protocol dataunits (“PDU”) to and from the network layer 156. As is known in the art,a PDU is a data packet layout with a header and a data payload. Thetransport layer 154 also sends and receives session control and statusinformation to and from the session controller module 152 and sends andreceives interface control and status information to and from theinterface manager 146.

The network layer 156 is the third of the seven layers in OSI reference.The network layer 156 is one level above the data-link layer and ensuresthat information arrives at its intended destination. The network layer156 sends network layer PDUs to a latency management module 158. Thelatency management module 158 manages latency of information on thenetwork layer 156. The latency management module 158 sends and receivesprotocol data units to and from the ADSL ATU-R 104 and/or wireless RFmodule 107.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the session controllermodule 152 provides routing and bridging functionality for networkingcommunications and coordinates initialization of broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions with theprovisioning manager module 164 in the service manager 144 (FIG. 9). Insuch an embodiment, the session controller module 152 in the sessionmanager 142 initializes and maintains routing and bridging tables forthe phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80. However, the presentinvention is not limited to such and embodiment and routing and bridgingfunctionality can also be provided by other hardware or softwarecomponents in the integrated, phone-based home gateway interfaces 36,80.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary service manager 144software architecture 160. The service manager 144 includes a devicemanager module 162 that sends and receives status information to andfrom the session manager 142, and sends and receives service and voiceinformation messages to and from the display manager 148.

The device manager module 162 also sends and receives serviceregistration information to and from a provisioning manager module 164.The provisioning manager module 164 sends and receives serviceinitialization information and service session information to and fromthe PSTN 22 via the POTS telephone module 108. The POTS telephone module108 helps with service provisioning requests as well as handles voicecalls including VoIP via the PSTN 22. The provisioning manager module164 also sends and receives broadband service session information anddata session information to and from the ADSL ATU-R 104 or wirelessmodule 107. The ADSL ATU-R 104 or wireless module 107 also handles datacommunications via the PSTN 22, the Internet, wireless WAN 94, etc.

As is known in the art, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (“ATM”) system canuse high-speed services on ADSL systems as a physical layer to transportdata packets. ATM is a high-speed packet transmission system. ATMsegments and multiplexes data traffic into small, fixed-length unitscalled “cells.” A cell is 53-octects, with 5-octects for the cellheader, and 48-octects for the cell data. ATM provides four servicecategory classes that may use constant bit-rates, variable bit-rates,available bit-rates and unspecified bit-rate services. The four ATMservice classes can be used to provide Quality-of-Service (“QoS”)functionality. The provisioning manager module 164 is used to set-up ATMvirtual channel connections (“VCC”) and other types of virtualconnections or data sessions.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary interface manger146 software architecture 166. The interface manager 146 includes aninterface module 168. The interface module 168 sends and receivesinterface information to and from the session manager 142 and sends andreceives service messages to and from the display manager 148.

The interface module 168 also sends and receives Bluetooth data andmanagement information to and from a Bluetooth baseband module 170. TheBluetooth baseband module 170 sends and receives Bluetooth radioinformation to and from the Bluetooth radio module 130.

The interface module 168 also sends and receives HPNA data andmanagement information to and from an HPNA interface module 172. TheHPNA interface module 172 sends and receives HPNA information to andfrom HPNA module 134.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary display manger 148software architecture 174. The display manager 148 includes a contentmanager module 176. The content manager module 176 sends and receivesdata messages to and from the session manager 142, sends and receivesservices and voice messages to and from the service manager 144 andsends and receives service messages to and from the interface manger146.

The content manager module 176 also sends and receives messages to andfrom a LCD display module 178 and a storage handler module 180. The LCDdisplay module 178 sends and receives display messages to and from theLCD module 128. The storage handler module 180 sends and receivesstorage messages to and from memory 116, 120, 122.

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate exemplary stand-alone integrated phone-based homegateway systems. In many instances however, a home user will alreadyhave an existing phone system, and desire to use the functionality ofthe integrated or wireless, integrated phone-based home gateway systemsdescribed herein. In another embodiment of the present invention, theintegrated phone-based home gateway system comprises an integratedphone-based home gateway conversion system without a display screen 40,keypad 42, optical video camera 54, etc.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an integrated phone-based homegateway conversion system 182. The integrated phone-based home gatewayconversion system 182 includes an integrated phone-based home gatewayconversion module 184 that is used in combination with an existing phonesystem 186. In one embodiment of the present invention, the integratedphone-based home gateway conversion module 184 is approximately the samesize and shape of the existing phone system 182 and includes multipleRJ-11 jacks 24, a HPNA 50 connector as well as other communicationscomponents described above for phone-based home gateway systems 34, 78.The multiple RJ-11 jacks and the HPNA 50 connector allow the existingphone system 186 to be connected to the integrated phone-based homegateway conversion module 184, other devices on LAN 12 in a SOHOnetwork, as well as to the PSTN 22 and/or Internet 24.

Since the integrated phone-based home gateway conversion module 184 isapproximately the same size and shape of the existing phone system 182,the conversion module 184 can be used with an existing phone system 182without taking up much additional space in the home or office of a homeuser. The size of the illustrated conversion module 184 is slightlylarger than the existing phone system only for the purposes ofillustration in the drawing. The integrated phone-based home gatewayconversion module 184 includes wired 188 and/or wireless 190 connectionsas were discussed above for the integrated and wireless integrated homegateway systems 34, 78.

Exemplary Home Gateway Interface Initialization

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a Method 192 for initializingcommunications from the phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80. AtStep 194, one or more narrow-band communications channels areautomatically established with a public switched telephone network 22from the phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80. At Step 196, one ormore broadband communications channels are automatically establishedwith a public switched telephone network 22 from the phone-based homegateway interfaces 36, 80. At Step 198, a data communications interfaceis automatically initialized for a data network 24 from the phone-basedhome gateway interfaces 36, 80. At Step 200, routing or bridging tablesare automatically initialized on the phone-based home gateway interfaces36, 80. At Step 202, broadband communications service configurations andprovisions are automatically initialized via the phone-based homegateway interfaces 36, 80.

Method 192 helps hide data and broadband configuration and serviceprovisioning complexity from home users by automatically establishingcommunications channels and providing automatic initializationcommunications and networking configuration parameters. Method 192 isillustrated with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment andother or equivalent embodiments can also be used.

In such an embodiment at Step 194, one or more narrow-bandcommunications channel, such as an analog 48 communication channels forPOTS 108, are established automatically with the PSTN 22 from thephone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the narrow-bandcommunications channel is used to provide a conventional wired voicechannel, communications channel redundancy, as well as provide automaticbroadband service provisioning and configuration. In such an embodimentthe narrow-band communications channel is also used to help initializeother components of the phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80.However, the present invention is not limited to such and embodiment.

At Step 196, one or more broadband communications channels such as anADSL 104, ATM over ADSL 104 or other broadband communications channel isestablished automatically with the PSTN 22. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, the broadband communications channel is used toprovide broadband voice, video or data communications with the PSTN 22or Internet 24. However, the present invention is not limited to such anembodiment.

At Step 198, a data communications interface is automaticallyinitialized, such as an IP interface, for the Internet 24. The automaticinitialization includes initializing network addresses such as IP andother types of network addresses, and initializing data networkconfiguration parameters. The automatic initialization helps hideinitialization and configuration complexity from users of the homegateway interfaces.

At Step 200, routing or bridging tables are automatically initialized inthe communications interface 44. As is known in the art, a routing tableis table of information that provides network hardware (bridges androuters) with the directions needed to forward packets of data tolocations on other networks. The information included in a routing tablediffers according to whether it is used by a bridge or a router.

A bridge relies on both a source (i.e., originating) and destinationaddresses to determine where and how to forward a packet. A routerrelies on the destination address and on information in the table thatgives the possible routes-in hops or in number of jumps—between itself,intervening routers, and a destination. The routing or bridging tablesalso provide network address translation (“NAT”) for the phone-basedhome gateway interfaces 36, 80. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the routing and bridging tables are initialized by thesession manager 142. However, the present invention is not limited tothis embodiment and the routing and bridging tables can be initializedby other components or modules in the phone-based home gatewayinterfaces 36, 80 and/or with or without help from the remoteapplications.

At Step 202, broadband communications service configurations andprovisions are automatically initialized via the phone-based homegateway interfaces 36, 80. In one embodiment of the present invention,the session manager 142 coordinates this task with the provisioningmanager module 164 in the service manager 148. However, the presentinvention is not limited to such an embodiment. The narrow-bandcommunications channel is used to automatically initialize broadbandcommunications services, such as ASDL, ATM, etc. services.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Method 192 ispracticed with the phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80 by sendingand receiving telephony initialization and provisioning signals to andfrom the PSTN 22, and data protocol initialization sequences to and fromthe Internet 24, to provision, establish and initialize narrow-band andbroadband communications channels and automatically populate routing andbridging tables.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the narrow-bandcommunication channel is used to call a toll free number (e.g., 800,888, etc.) to establish communications with specialized remote softwareapplications that assist in automatically populating routing andbridging tables and provisioning, establishing and initializingcommunications channels to/from the phone-based home gateway interfaces36, 80. In such an embodiment, the remote applications may be includedat the local switching office 72 or at some other location on the PSTN22 or the Internet 24 (e.g., at Aeptech's home site on the Internet).

In such an embodiment, the remote applications specifically helpconfigure and initialize the phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80with two-way dynamic communications any time a home user desires toconfigure and initialize an interface 36, 80. The dynamic two-waycommunications over the narrow-band communications channel are used toassist in automatically populating routing and bridging tables,provisioning, establishing and initializing other communicationschannels to/from the phone-based home gateway interfaces 36, 80.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a remote application maysend a static configuration file that is then used by the phone-basedhome gateway interfaces for automatically populating routing andbridging tables and provisioning, initializing and establishing othercommunications channels to/from the phone-based home gateway interfaces36, 80. The configuration file can be dynamically updated byperiodically contacting the remote application for updates.

However, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments andother or equivalent embodiments can also be used. In addition, no remotesoftware applications are necessary to practice preferred embodiments ofpresent invention.

The phone-based home gateway interfaces described herein can used asbroadband home gateway, a wireless local loop home gateway, as well as aset-top box for a cable television access. The phone-based home gatewayinterfaces are modular, flexible, plug-n-play home gateways. The homegateway interfaces hide routing and bridging table population, data(e.g., IP) and broadband service configuration and provisioningcomplexity from home users by providing automatic population of routingand bridging tables, establishment of communications channels,initialization and provisioning of communication channel parameters.

It should be understood that the programs, processes, methods and systemdescribed herein are not related or limited to any particular type ofcomputer or network system (hardware or software), unless indicatedotherwise. Various combinations of general purpose, specialized orequivalent computer components including hardware, software, andfirmware and combinations thereof may be used with or perform operationsin accordance with the teachings described herein.

In view of the wide variety of embodiments to which the principles ofthe present invention can be applied, it should be understood that theillustrated embodiments are exemplary only, and should not be taken aslimiting the scope of the present invention. For example, the steps ofthe flow diagrams may be taken in sequences other than those described,and more fewer or equivalent elements may be used in the block diagrams.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

1. An integrated phone-based home gateway system providing in-home andto home networking, comprising in combination: a home gateway interfacefor initializing broadband communications service configurations andprovisions, initializing data communications parameters and forproviding routing or bridging for networking communications; acommunications interface for connecting to one or more networks, forproviding data communications, for providing broadband communicationsand for providing narrow-band communications including voicecommunications; a processor for processing information from the one ormore networks; a display interface for displaying the information fromthe one or more networks; and a wireless communications interface forconnecting to external wireless devices.
 2. The integrated phone-basedhome gateway system of claim 1, further comprising a portablemulti-function handset.
 3. The integrated phone-based home gatewaysystem of claim 2, wherein the portable multi-function handset performsthe function of at least one of a cordless phone, a mobile phone, a webphone, or a walkie-talkie radio.
 4. The integrated phone-based homegateway system of claim 1, wherein the communication interface includesa speaker phone.
 5. The integrated phone-based home gateway system ofclaim 1, wherein the communication interface includes a digitalsubscriber line (“DSL”) device and an analog modem.
 6. The integratedphone-based home gateway system of claim 5, wherein the DSL deviceincludes an asymmetric digital subscriber line (“ADSL”) device,symmetric DSL (“SDSL”) device, high-bit-rate DSL (“HDSL”) device orvery-high-bit-rate (“VDSL”) device.
 7. The integrated phone-based homegateway system of claim 1, wherein the communication interface includesvoice communications using Plain Old Telephone Service (“POTS”) or Voiceover Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) channels.
 8. The integrated phone-basedhome gateway system of claim 1, further comprising: at least one modulefor interfacing with an external device.
 9. The integrated phone-basedhome gateway system of claim 8, wherein the external device includes adesk-top computer, lap-top computer, notebook computer, a home securitydevice, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a InternetProtocol-based home appliance, a printer, a facsimile machine, a videocamera, or a scanner.
 10. The integrated phone-based home gateway systemof claim 8, wherein the at least one module for interfacing with anexternal device includes an RJ-11 module, a peripheral componentinterconnect (“PCI”) module, a Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) module, ahome phoneline network adapter (“HPNA”) module, a Personal ComputerMemory Card International Association (“PCMCIA”) interface module, aBluetooth module, an infra data association (“IrDA”) module, or awireless interface module.
 11. The integrated phone-based home gatewaysystem of claim 1, further comprising one or more modular plug-and-playinterfaces.
 12. The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim1, wherein the display interface comprises a removable display unit. 13.The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim 12, wherein theremovable display unit interfaces with the home gateway interfacethrough a wireless infrared or a wireless radio frequency communicationsinterface.
 14. The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim1, wherein the display interface displays and accesses voice, video anddata messages.
 15. The integrated phone-based home gateway system ofclaim 14 wherein the data messages include Internet Protocol messages ore-mail messages.
 16. The integrated phone-based home gateway system ofclaim 1 wherein the display interface displays a graphicalrepresentation of a keypad.
 17. The integrated phone based home gatewaysystem of claim 1, wherein the display interface displays at least oneline of real-time stock quote, weather, headline news, community news,or a electronic address information from the Internet.
 18. Theintegrated phone-based home gateway system of claim 1, furthercomprising a keypad.
 19. The integrated phone-based home gateway systemof claim 18 wherein the keypad is a graphical representation of a keypadon the display, a numeric key pad, an alpha-numeric key pad or akeyboard.
 20. The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim 1,further comprising a video camera.
 21. The integrated phone-based homegateway system of claim 1 wherein the one or more networks include apublic switched telephone network, a regional broadband network, or theInternet.
 22. The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim 1wherein the wireless communication interface includes an infrared orradio frequency wireless communication interface.
 23. The integratedphone-based home gateway system of claim 1 wherein the wirelesscommunication interface includes a Bluetooth protocol based interface aShared Wireless Access Protocol based interface or a WirelessApplication Protocol based interface.
 24. The integrated phone-basedhome gateway system of claim 1 wherein the wireless communicationinterface includes a short-range wireless communication interface forconnecting to external wireless network devices on a wireless piconet.25. The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim 1 whereinthe wireless communication interface includes a long-range wirelesscommunication interface for connecting to external wireless networkdevices on a wireless wide area network.
 26. The integrated phone-basedhome gateway system of claim 22 wherein the wireless communicationinterface includes a long-range and a short-range radio frequencywireless communication interface.
 27. The integrated phone-based homegateway system of claim 1, further comprising a computer readable mediumhaving stored therein a plurality of computer software modules with aplurality of instructions executable by the processor, including: asession manager module for controlling an information session from theone or more networks, controlling a service manager module, controllingan interface manager module, controlling a display manager module andfor automatically populating routing and bridging tables and providingrouting or bridging for networking communications; a service managermodule for controlling the communications interface and the wirelesscommunication interface, and initializing broadband communicationsservice configurations and provisions and initializing datacommunications parameters; an interface manager module for controllinginterface modules to external devices; and a display manager module forcontrolling the display interface and the display of information fromthe one or more networks.
 28. An integrated phone-based home gatewaysystem providing in-home and to-home networking, comprising incombination: a home gateway interface for initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions and for providingrouting or bridging for networking communications; a communicationsinterface for connecting to one or more networks, wherein thecommunications interface includes a digital subscriber line (“DSL”)device and an analog modem; a processor for processing information fromthe one or more networks; a removable display unit for displaying theinformation from the one or more networks for accessing and displayingvoice, video or data messages; a key pad for entering alpha-numericdata; a home phone line network adapter (“HPNA”) module; a Bluetoothmodule for interfacing with wireless devices using the Bluetoothwireless protocol; a portable multi-function wireless handset forperforming cordless phone, a mobile phone, a web phone, or walkie-talkieradio functions; one or more short-range or long-range wirelessinterfaces for interfacing with external wireless devices; one or moreRJ-11 interface jacks; at least one modular plug-and-play interface forinterfacing with other external devices; and an optional video camerafor sending and receiving video data to and from the one or morenetworks.
 29. The integrated phone-based home gateway system of claim28, further comprising a computer readable medium having stored thereina plurality of computer software modules with a plurality ofinstructions executable by the processor, including: a session managermodule for controlling an information session from the one or morenetworks, controlling a service manager module, controlling an interfacemanager module, controlling a display manager module and forautomatically populating routing and bridging tables and providingrouting or bridging for networking communications; a service managermodule for controlling the communications interface and initializingbroadband communications service configurations and provisions andinitializing data communications parameters; an interface manager modulefor controlling interface modules to external devices; and a displaymanager module for controlling the removable display unit and thedisplay of information from the one or more networks.
 30. An integratedphone-based home gateway system conversion system for connecting toexisting phone systems, providing in-home and to-home networking,comprising in combination: a home gateway interface for initializingbroadband communications service configurations and provisions and forproviding routing or bridging for networking communications; acommunications interface for connecting to one or more networks, forproviding data communications, for providing broadband communicationsand for providing narrow band communications including voicecommunications; a processor for processing information from the one ormore networks; a wireless communications interface for connecting toexternal wireless devices; a home phone line network adapter (“HPNA ”)module; and one or more RJ-11 interface jacks.
 31. The integratedphone-based home gateway system conversion system of claim 30, furthercomprising a computer readable medium having stored therein a pluralityof computer software modules with a plurality of instructions executableby the processor, including: a session manager module for controlling aninformation session from the one or more networks, controlling a servicemanager module, controlling an interface manager module, controlling adisplay manager module and for automatically populating routing andbridging tables and providing routing or bridging for networkingcommunications; a service manager module for controlling thecommunications interface and the wireless communication interface, andinitializing broadband communications service configurations andprovisions and initializing data communications parameters; an interfacemanager module for controlling interface modules to external devices;and a display manager module for controlling a display interface anddisplay of information from the one or more networks.
 32. A method forinitializing an integrated phone-based home gateway system, comprising:establishing one or more narrow-band communications channels with apublic switched telephone network from the integrated phone-based homegateway system; establishing one or more broadband communicationschannels with a public switched telephone network from the integratedphone-based home gateway system; initializing a data communicationsinterface for a data network from the integrated phone-based homegateway system; initializing routing or bridging tables on integratedphone-based home gateway system; and initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions from the integratedphone-based home gateway system.
 33. The method of claim 32 furthercomprising computer readable medium having stored therein instructionsfor causing a processor to execute the steps of the method.
 34. Themethod of claim 32 wherein the step of establishing one or morenarrow-band communications channel includes establishing a plain oldtelephone service (“POTS”) channel or a Voice-over-Internet Protocol(“VoIP”) channel.
 35. The method of claim 32 wherein the step ofestablishing one or more broadband communications channels includesestablishing an asymmetric digital subscriber line (“ADSL”), symmetricDSL (“SDSL”), high-bit-rate DSL (“HDSL”), very-high-hit-rate DSL(“VDSL”) or an asynchronous transport mode (“ATM”) channel.
 36. Themethod of claim 32 wherein the step of initializing a datacommunications interface for a data network from the home gatewayinterface includes initializing an Internet Protocol (“IP”) interface.37. The method of claim 32 wherein the step of initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions via the homegateway interface includes initializing asymmetric digital subscriberline (“ADSL”), symmetric DSL (“SDSL”), high-bit-rate DSL (“HDSL”)very-high-bit-rate DSL (“VDSL”) or asynchronous transport mode (“ATM”)service configurations and provisions.
 38. An integrated phone-basedhome gateway system providing in-home and to-home networking comprisingin combination: a home gateway interface for initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions, initializing datacommunications parameters and for providing routing or bridging fornetworking communications; a communications interface for connecting toone or more networks, for providing data communications, for providingbroadband communications and for providing narrow-band communicationsincluding voice communications; a processor for processing informationfrom the one or more networks; a display interface for displaying theinformation from the one or more networks; a wireless communicationsinterface for connecting to external wireless devices; and a computerreadable medium having stored therein a plurality of computer softwaremodules with a plurality of instructions executable by the processor,including: a session manager module for controlling an informationsession from the one or more networks, controlling a service managermodule, controlling an interface manager module, controlling a displaymanager module and for automatically populating routing and bridgingtables and providing routing or bridging for networking communications;a service manager module for controlling the communications interfaceand the wireless communication interface, and initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions and initializingdata communications parameters; an interface manager module forcontrolling interface modules to external devices; and a display managermodule for controlling the display interface and the display ofinformation from the one or more networks.
 39. An integrated phone-basedhome gateway system providing in-home and to-home networking, comprisingin combination: a home gateway interface for initializing broadbandcommunications service configurations and provisions and for providingrouting or bridging for networking communications; a communicationsinterface for connecting to one or more networks, wherein thecommunications interface includes a digital subscriber line (“DSL”)device and an analog modem; a processor for processing information fromthe one or more networks; a removable display unit for displaying theinformation from the one or more networks for accessing and displayingvoice, video or data messages; a key pad for entering alpha-numericdata; a home phone line network adapter (“HPNA”) module; a Bluetoothmodule for interfacing with wireless devices using the Bluetoothwireless protocol; a portable multi-function wireless handset forperforming cordless phone, a mobile phone, a web phone, or walkie-talkieradio functions; one or more short-range or long-range wirelessinterfaces for interfacing with external wireless devices; one or moreRJ-11 interface jacks; at least one modular plug-and-play interface forinterfacing with other external devices; an optional video camera forsending and receiving video data to and from the one or more networks;and a computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality ofcomputer software modules with a plurality of instructions executable bythe processor, including: a session manager module for controlling aninformation session from the one or more networks, controlling a servicemanager module, controlling an interface manager module, controlling adisplay manager module and for automatically populating routing andbridging tables and providing routing or bridging for networkingcommunications; a service manager module for continuing thecommunications interface and the wireless communication interface, andinitializing broadband communications service configurations andprovisions and initializing data communications parameters; an interfacemanager module for controlling interface modules to external devices;and a display manager module for controlling a display interface anddisplay of information from the one or more networks.
 40. An integratedphone-based home gateway system conversion system for connecting toexisting phone systems, providing in-home and to-home networking,comprising in combination: a home gateway interface for initializingbroadband communications service configurations and provisions and forproviding routing or bridging for networking communications; acommunications interface for connecting to one or more networks, forproviding data communications, for providing broadband communicationsand for providing narrow band communications including voicecommunications; a processor for processing information from the one ormore networks; a wireless communications interface for connecting toexternal wireless devices; a home phone line network adapter (“HPNA”)module; one or more RJ11 interface jacks; and a computer readable mediumhaving stored therein a plurality of computer software modules with aplurality of instructions executable by the processor, including: asession manager module for controlling an information session from theone or more networks, controlling a service manager module, controllingan interface manager module, controlling a display manager module andfor automatically populating routing and bridging tables and providingrouting or bridging for networking communications; a service managermodule for controlling the communications interface and the wirelesscommunication interface, and initializing broadband communicationsservice configurations and provisions and initializing datacommunications parameters; an interface manager module for controllinginterface modules to external devices; and a display manager module forcontrolling a display interlace and display of information from the oneor more networks.